Joseph V. Cavanagh and Martha Harty grew up in Providence in the 1920s and 30s. They were part of the fledgling Rhode Island hockey community of the time.
Joe was an All-State hockey player for Classical High in 1934. Like his older brother, John (or Jack, as he was known), before him, Joe served as team captain in his senior year.
Martha and Joe fell in love. They married during his tour as a Naval officer and started raising a large family (9 children) in the Edgewood section of Cranston.
Cranston was a hotbed of hockey in the 1950s and 60s so it’s probably not surprising that several of the male members of the Cavanagh clan became hockey players.
Four of Martha and Joe Cavanagh’s sons played for the Cranston High School East hockey team.
After prepping for a year at Phillips Andover, following Cranston East, Joe Cavanagh went to Harvard where he became a Harvard hockey legend.
In 1994, Cavanagh was named to the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.
Today, Cavanagh, whose hockey career was ended by an injury shortly after he graduated from Harvard, is a successful lawyer in Providence. He is the senior managing partner of the Providence law firm of Blish & Cavanagh.
Dave also went on to play varsity hockey at Harvard and currently is a Roman Catholic priest in the Boston area.
BOB CAVANAGH, one of Joe and Dave’s younger brothers, was a Cranston East hockey player for three seasons from 1973 to 1975.
RICH CAVANAGH, Martha and Joe’s youngest son, also played hockey for Cranston East in the late 1970s. Like his brothers Joe and Dave, Richard also attended Harvard.
The third generation of Cavanagh family hockey players began making their mark in the R.I Interscholastic League ranks in the 1990s.
All five of Joe Jr. and Carol Cavanagh’s five sons were hockey players.
JOE CAVANAGH III was an All-State player and assistant captain of the Toll Gate hockey team in his senior season in 1994. He then went onto to a four-year college hockey career at Holy Cross.
Like his brother, PAUL CAVANAGH also played for Toll Gate for four years before enjoying a four-year career at Holy Cross. Paul, a high-scoring forward, earned first team All-State honors in his senior year at Toll Gate in 1996 after leading the Titans to the title round of the R.I. Interscholastic League DI state tournament. Paul was captain of his teams in his senior seasons in both high school and college.
Drafted in the 6th round of the 2001 NHL draft by the San Jose Sharks, Tom went on to play five years of professional hockey after he graduated from Harvard, including two seasons in the NHL with the Sharks.
Joe and Carol Cavanagh’s son DAVE, was a two-time first team All-State defenseman for Toll Gate in 2004 and 05. In 2004 Dave’s defensive performance played a key role in Toll Gate ending Mt. St. Charles’ historical 26-year reign as Rhode Island high school state champion. As a team captain, Dave also backboned the Titans title run again in 2005 before going on to a four-year career playing for Providence College.
JIM CAVANAGH, the youngest of Joe Jr. and Carol’s hockey playing sons played for Hendricken and was a team captain late in the first decade of the 21st century.
One of Paul Cavanagh’s teammates on that Toll Gate team that pushed Mount St. Charles to a deciding third game in the 1996 state title series was his cousin, STEVE HAUN. Steve is the son of Martha (Cavanagh) Haun, the daughter of Joe (Sr.) and Martha Cavanagh. Steve went on to play college hockey at Wentworth Institute.
Steve and Martha Haun’s other son PAUL HAUN played four years for the Pilgrim High hockey team and served as team captain in his senior year. He also played for Williston-North Hampton School
The three sons of Bob Cavanagh, Bob, Mark and John, all were star players for Toll Gate High.
She then prepped at Cushing Academy where she was the captain of the Cushing girl’s hockey team in 2013. She enrolled at the University of Connecticut the following year and was a member of both the Huskies women’s hockey and golf teams. However, after one year at UConn, Susie transferred to Oregon State University to focus on golf. Now a professional golfer she won the 2024 Connecticut Open Women’s championship.
Another of Rich Cavanagh’s daughters, ELIZABETH, played for the Pilgrim girls hockey team for four years and was an assistant captain in her senior year.
RICH CAVANAGH Jr. played three years for the Pilgrim High hockey team before transferring to Pomfret Academy where he is playing for the varsity hockey team in the 2024-25 season.
Also, in the 2024-25 RIIL season, LUKE CAVANAGH, the son of Joe Cavanagh III, was a sophomore forward for the Prout School hockey team and KOLBY KANELOS, son of Alyssa Haun and grandson of Martha (Cavanagh) Haun, was a sophomore forward for the Bishop Hendricken High varsity hockey team.
Twenty-three (and still counting) descendants of the late Joseph and Martha Cavanagh have played in the RI Interscholastic League hockey ranks; 17 have earned Providence Journal All-State selections and 13 have gone-on to play college hockey.
The participation numbers and individual honors are impressive, but for Joe Cavanagh Jr., the most significant characteristic of the Cavanagh hockey story is leadership.
“I think it shows what playing hockey can mean in a person’s life,” said Joe Cavanagh, the three-time Harvard All-American. “It teaches you the value of hard-work; the importance of teamwork and how to work with people to achieve a goal.”
It is the hockey legacy of the Martha and Joe Cavanagh “Love Story”.
By John Gillooly